Watch Me Write: Exploring the Effects of Revealing Creative Writing Process through Writing Replay

DOI

The written word is an asynchronous form of communication in which static texts are exchanged. However, the act of writing is a dynamic cognitive process in which evolving ideas are organized into a coherent narrative. This process is not shared with readers because they only see the final product. In this paper, we explore the benefits to readers of watching a real-time writing replay. We recorded the writing process of professional writers (n=13) and interviewed them about their and others’ replays. These writers found replays engaging. Replays facilitated self-reflection and helped writers empathize with each other. In addition, we conducted an online survey (n=78) to compare readers’ comprehension and perception of writing replay with that of traditional text. We found that writing replay enhanced user engagement and the perceived quality of the text for some writing styles. Participants from both studies considered using writing replay regularly.